A new first aid training centre has opened its doors in downtown Red Deer.
City First Aid, owned and operated by Krystal Kromm and Jonathan Wieler, provides standard first aid classes, CPR instruction and emergency first aid and recertification courses.
There are also car seat workshops available, as well as the babysitting course PeopleSavers (a four-level Canadian Red Cross program for kids) and ResepectED, a violence and abuse prevention program.
“We’re passionate about health and fitness and first aid is part of that,” said Wieler, who recently ran unsuccessfully for a spot on city council.
The business has been open for almost two weeks.
“We’re starting to book up. We’ve had on average eight to 10 people a day. We can service up to 20 people per class.”
City First Aid is located at 5116 48th St., in the same building that previously housed City Motion Fitness, Wieler and Kromm’s first business.
The couple closed the gym to start the new venture and redirected members to Absolute Fitness on 54th Avenue, where the rates they had paid at City Motion will be honoured for a limited time.
City Motion ran for about a year with first aid classes on the side.
The classes were increasing popular, proving to be a more lucrative business, Wieler said. “We’re big into the safety business. We’ve been first aid trainers for a year and there’s a market for it.”
All proceeds from the $5 car seat workshops, presented by Kromm who is a certified car seat technician, will go to charity, Wieler said.
Down the road, Wieler hopes to use his own oilfield experience and eventually start offering H2S (hydrogen sulfide training) courses and confined space training.
“There’s lots of competition there but I think there’s room for us. We offer great rates and we’re willing to do on-site training,” he said.
“I worked in the oilfield for eight years and I’ve been in a number of emergency situations. In one, a guy lost his finger and it stuck with me how we prepare and prepare and something like that happens and everyone is shocked.”
For more information, visit www.cityfirstaid.ca.
rfrancoeur@www.reddeeradvocate.com